With one year at a bargain-basement salary of $1 million left on his contract, the Senators captain will take until early next month to decide whether he’ll be back next season or hang up his No. 11 jersey for good.

Doug MacLean, the former GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets and current Sportsnet analyst, has an interesting take on the Alfredsson situation. He believes the 39-year-old Super Swede is obligated to play the final year of his deal.

Under the terms of the four-year contract extension Alfredsson signed in October 2008, he received $18.5 million of the $19.5-million total over the first three seasons.

The only reason MacLean doesn’t like the fact Alfredsson is considering retirement is whether he plays or not, his contract will carry a $4.5-million cap hit next season because he agreed to the deal after he was 35 years old.

“This is with all due respect to Alfredsson. I know what a great, character guy he has been and what a great leader he is,” said MacLean. “They’re sitting there wondering if he’s coming back and if he doesn’t, they have a $4.5-million cap hit. I just don’t know about that.

“In my opinion, he owes them another year and, unfortunately, (the Senators) have nothing to say about it. He can retire, I guess. Who knows? Maybe that’s the way the contract was structured.”

MacLean’s opinion isn’t popular, but he has a point.

But Nick Kypreos, who won a Stanley Cup with the Rangers in 1994 and works with MacLean nightly on Sportsnet, couldn’t disagree more with his broadcast partner.

“It’s just Doug being Doug,” said Kypreos. “Ottawa probably owes Daniel Alfredsson. He doesn’t owe them. They owe him. He’s been a great soldier for them.

“Doug’s argument is ridiculous. If a player wants to retire in the first year of his deal or the last year of his deal, that’s up to him. (MacLean’s) trying to take that right away. (Alfredsson) has the option of not playing anymore.

“It’s no different than any civilized worker having the option of not working anymore or retiring. Why would Alfredsson’s rights be any different?”

MacLean noted Alfredsson’s contract was one of the initial front-loaded deals in the NHL. The Calgary Flames will face a similar situation in 2013-14, when goalie Miikka Kiprusoff is scheduled to make $1.5 million, but on a contract that carries a $5.8-million cap hit.

Kiprusoff’s was the first of these types of contracts negotiated in the league, but Alfredsson is the first to reach the pivotal point when the salary plummets but the cap hit remains the same.

“This is the first time this type of contract is being tested where we saw these payments where a guy’s contract goes from $7 million-to-$1 million,” said MacLean.

“This is tough, but this was a front-loaded deal and then you get to walk because it’s $1 million cash and the team gets hit with a $4.5-million cap? I just don’t like it. Look, I’m an Alfredsson fan. I’m not a fan of this deal.”

MacLean’s argument might hold more weight if the Senators were spending to the cap, yet would have to potentially replace Alfredsson’s spot on the roster and be on the hook for both cap hits.

But they have $37 million committed to contracts next year. Depending on what Erik Karlsson signs for, plus other contracts to fill out the roster, they’ll likely come in at about $55 million — still well below the $64.3-million salary cap ceiling from 2011-12.

“It was abundantly clear when they negotiated this (Alfredsson) deal that there was a distinct possibility, at his age, that he may not want to play when he was 40,” said Kypreos.

“It was a way of helping the team out when they asked for it. They wanted to keep their players and this was a way of lowering the cap hit so that it worked for everybody.”

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